Antioxidant Potential of Pine Needles: A Systematic Study on the Essential Oils and Extracts of 46 Species of the Genus Pinus

Abstract

The antioxidant activity of the essential oils, as well as of the organic and hydroethanolic extracts, of the fresh needles of 54 pine taxa was evaluated using the peroxy-oxalate and luminol chemiluminescence assays. Among all evaluated essential oils, <i>P. canariensis</i> and <i>P. attenuata</i> displayed the highest levels of activity. <i>P. contorta</i> var. <i>murrayana</i>, followed by <i>P. nigra</i> var. <i>caramanica</i>, exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity among the organic extracts, while the most active hydroethanolic extract was that of <i>P. nigra</i> subsp. <i>nigra</i>. Based on the overall levels of activity, the latter taxon was selected for phytochemical analysis targeting the isolation of the bioactive constituents. As such, the organic extract of <i>P. nigra</i> subsp. <i>nigra</i> was subjected to chromatographic separations to yield 11 secondary metabolites (<b>1-11</b>) that were evaluated for their antioxidant activity. Nonetheless, the isolated compounds were found to be less active than the crude extract, thus suggesting the potential role of synergism.